the folk opera
2010
The Folk Opera (as yet untitled) is a performance piece written & composed by Annie Bacon. It was composed entirely on the ukulele during a 6-week trip to the Middle East and Southern Africa, and uses the operatic form lyrically (as in all text is sung, and themes are drawn out hyperbolically), and folk music form musically (simplistic and repetitive melodies and rich harmonies that tell stories of folks).
“Folk Opera tells of Elizabeth, a caretaker in her twenties in charge of Aunt Sara, an ornery old bird afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Their car breaks down, and in one short afternoon their fates become enveloped in the entrenched personalities and histories of a small town. Tragedy ensues, but not before love can enter the scene, strangers have a chance to win each other over, small town antics abound, and Rita the waitress serves her coffee. And while death sits at the doorstep of this short tale, the fact that Bacon composed the entire opera on her ukulele lends a lighthearted tone to the whole affair.” [Maddie Oatman]
(as yet Untitled)
Upcoming Performances
Of the Folk Opera:
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THURSDAY FEB 25TH
Cafe Royale
800 Post St. @ Leavenworth
San Francisco, CA
Annie/Elizabeth performance
of the whole Folk Opera
THURSDAY MARCH 4TH
Jalopy Theatre
315 Columbia St.
Brooklyn, New York
w/ Potato Potato & Palaminos
Show at 9p
-
Want us to come perform?
Contact Annie at info@anniebacon.me
And let us know when/were!
The Folk Opera has been performed at (in order of performances, first-most recent):
SOCHA Cafe, SF
Nomad Cafe, SF
Pirate Cat Radio, SF
Noe Valley Ministry (Music Series), SF
The Red Door (Hush Hush Sweet Harlot Series), Portsmouth NH
Camp Louise, Highland Mills NY
Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC
Brother’s Lounge, Cleveland OH
The Tower, SF
Kaleidoscope, SF
FAR West Regional Folk Alliance Conference, Irvine CA
Adobe Bookstore, SF
Kaleidoscope, SF
Elizabeth (Elizabeth Greenblatt)
photo by June Moon
Aunt Sara & Benjamin Defaunt
(Savannah Jo Lack & Joel Stockdill)
photo by June Moon
The string section (Joe Lewis & Annie Bacon)
photo by June Moon
“On this particular night, the audience watching Folk Opera seems to agree; they sit transfixed at the end of the performance. What may have just been a “stop” in a line of events for their evening has held them all in a state of awe.”
~ Maddie Oatman
TheRumpus.net
“Folk Opera . . . soars with the talent and energy of all of its performers.”
[Oatman]
At Left: A Medley of Folk Opera Songs - Live at Adobe Books 12/03/09 edited by
At it’s root the Folk Opera is an exercise in empathy. The folk aspects of the project allow the songs to create an empathic bridge for listeners, while the melodrama of the operatic hyperbole allows them to swim in a deep well of emotion and connect with their own souls, their own sense of loss and love and life.
This was a project that I “discovered” more than “created.” I would wake up from deep sleeps with songs on my lips, and the characters whispered their stories in my ear as I experimented with sounds and lyrics.
It is currently performed with Joe Lewis on the upright bass, Elizabeth Greenblatt singing the lead character (Elizabeth), Joel “Rockit” Dean singing Old Man (Benjamin Defaunt) and the Mechanic, Savannah Jo Lack singing Aunt Sara and playing fiddle, and me, Annie Bacon, playing the ukulele and singing Rita, the waitress.
photo by June Moon
photo by June Moon
Read “The Waitress on the Ukulele: A Short History of the Folk Opera” as written by Maddie Oatman on TheRumpus.net